New Hampshire shelter receives nearly 1,000 mice after owner struggles with unexpected breeding rate

Last week, a man arrived at a New Hampshire animal shelter wanting to surrender 150 pet mice, but it turned out he had 150 tubs full of mice instead. The overwhelmed shelter took in 73 mice initially and another 450 were transferred shortly after. The staff made multiple trips to the man’s home to collect more, with the total number of mice expected to reach nearly 1,000 due to their rapid reproduction rate. The mice were not separated by sex and were already pregnant when they arrived. They were living in unsanitary conditions and the shelter put out a call for help to transfer some mice out to make room for more. The shelter confirmed that these were pet mice, or “fancy mice,” that are social animals and relatively easy to care for. They are looking for community members to adopt, foster, or donate to help with the situation. Savannah Alcero, the director of animal and veterinary services at the shelter, expressed astonishment at the situation and emphasized the need to act quickly to prevent the numbers from growing even further.

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